Tomorrow (Thursday) there are a couple of musics shows happening in disparate parts of Western Washington. So you should go to whichever one is closer to your location:
Seattle Area: Brenda Xu, Julia Massey, & Shenandoah Davis
In Seattle this Thursday…
Brenda Xu (whom I must confess to never having heard of before now) is having a CD release party, and she’s being joined on the bill by two very talented ladies: My pal Julia Massey, and Shenandoah Davis.
This is at the very lovely Freemont Abbey Arts Center, which is a big ol’ church turned into a big ol’ performance space (two, actually; there’s one upstairs and one downstairs). So if you’re in the Seattle area, you should mos def check this one out.
Details:
Brenda Xu Album Release Party featuring Julia Massey & Shenandoah Davis (Facebook event)
Thursday, September 18th 8:00pm
@ Freemont Abbey Arts Center
4272 Fremont Ave N, Seattle 98103 (map)
$8/$10 door, get tickets here
All-ages, Bar with ID
Bellingham Area: Fight With Lions, The Old Salt, Dinofour, & Jenni Potts
It should be a crazy, trippy, loud evening of musics, so the Bellingham-bound should go there and do that. Yes.
Details:
FREE and LOCAL Thursday with I Will Fight With Lions, The Old Salt, Dinofour & Jenni Potts (Facebook event)
Thursday, September 18th 9:30 PM
@ The Shakedown
1212 N State St, Bellingham 98225 (map)
21+ FREE!
There are your two choices. There is no third option. One or the other. Oh, wait, there is a third option; you could go watch Jon Yoon play delightful ukulele pop in front of the Seattle Hard Rock Café from noon to 2:00 PM. But since that’s in the afternoon, then in the evening you have to choose one of two choices listed above. So, yeah, no real third option; just an optional addition.
Ho boy, folks, this Friday you’ve got a freakishly difficult decision to make. There are TWO COUNT ‘EM TWO excellent music shows happening in Seattle, both of which are just chock full of my musician friends. But they’re at the same time in two different venues! Gasp! You can only go to one! BUT WHICH ONE!? Let’s take a look:
(1) Incanus, Terrapin, & WIN95SE
Incanus includes Fools Play’s own Periwinkle Fool (aka The Old Salt).
The Five Finger Discount includes Fools Play’s own Yellow Fool
Dom the Drummer is also a good friend (and also drums for The Jesus Rehab)
Columbia City Theater: the epitome of class.
Details:
That Pretty Theater Down South (CCT) (Facebook Event)
Friday, 5/16 8:00 PM
@ Columbia City Theater
4916 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118
$8 21+
DECISIONS DECISIONS
Well, it looks like Carrie & I are going to be going to the Columbia City Theater show. Why? Because as much as we love the people involved in the Josephine show, that venue frankly frightens us. See, we are old. And the fancy, comfortable, highly-professional Columbia City Theater makes us feel relaxed and safe. Whereas the underground, DIY, this-is-just-someone’s-garage, punk-kids vibe of the Josephine is not terribly attractive. We’re too old for that sh*t.
But that doesn’t mean you are! Whichever show you choose, you’re sure to hear some great effing musics. So choose one! Choosing neither is NOT AN OPTION!
Saturday night after Fools Play I successfully walked the 2.5 blocks to Le Voyeur in time to catch the music show that was happening there. Of the 4 music acts, I had seen three of them before.
Frances Rose is a goddess who stuns you with her golden voice. Breathtaking as always.
The Old Salt attacks with his driven, unconventional soundscapes:
The Old Salt: Makin’ Whale Songs
The Old Salt and Terrapin Productions really complement each other’s sounds. They play in a similar genre but with very different styles.
But the real revelation of the night was Dreamy Weather, whom I’d never heard of before this show:
Dreamy Weather: Dreamy Duet
A duet with a ukulele/vocalist and an electric guitarist, Dreamy Weather blew me away. Evelyn (ukulele/vocals) has a sing-songy, high voice like Katharine Whalen (of Squirrel Nut Zippers) or Nataly Dawn (of Pomplamoose), but with a bit more power behind it. And she looks like a cross between Zooey Deschanel and Lisa Loeb. Plus she plays the ukulele, which is always a bonus for me:
Dreamy Weather: Ukulele Lady
Completely adorable and enjoyable. Evelyn and Frances Rose geeked out about Beyoncé between all the sets. Dreamy Weather only performed a small handful of songs, but that’s just because they’ve only been playing together for a very short time and don’t really have any more songs. I totally would love to see them perform again soon.
The rest of the month of February is P.C. (that’s “Pretty Crazy” to you). There are a whole gob of pretty durned awexome music shows happening. This weekend are two of ’em!
All playing Le Voyeur in Olympia. Show starts at 10:00 PM… which just so happens to be when Fools Play Improv gets over. And Fools Play Improv just happens to be about three blocks away from Le Voyeur. So, y’know, if you wanted to go to Fools Play and then afterwards stroll on down to Le Voyeur to catch this show, well, then you’d be doing exactly what I’ll be doing!
Details:
The Old Salt/Terrapin/Frances Rose/Dreamy Weather (Facebook Event)
@ Le Voyeur
404 4th Ave E, Olympia
Tonight, 10:00 PM
FREE! 21+
As part of their “Dorner vs Tookie” tour to support the release of their collaboration album, these Hellfyre Club members are going to be stopping by The Crocodile in Seattle for what looks to be probably the best overall hip-hop show of the year. With a lineup like that I can’t really see how it’ll be topped.
Details:
HELLFYRE CLUB: Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle, Nocando & Milo [Seattle] (Facebook Event)
@ The Crocodile
2200 2nd Avenue, Seattle
Monday 2/17 8:00 PM
$15, All-Ages + Bar
Circumstances willing, I will be at both of these shows, and I’ll be back with photos and reports. I SHALL SEEST THOU THERE!
Esa the Periwinkle Fool of Fools Play Improv is quite the busy musical beaver lately.
(This is the color Periwinkle)
He not only has his solo noise/folk/weird project The Old Salt (who has played on the same bills with the likes of Three Ninjas and Julia Massey), but he’s also in the band Incanus from Whatcom County. Also, the name of the band is one of Gandalf’s names in Middle-Earth (according to The Two Towers (the Book), it’s his name “in the south”). So there’s that.
This Saturday, the 25th of January, Incanus is on a bill at the Josephine!
Saturday, the 25th of January.
A warning about the Josephine, though: it is only technically a music venue. Basically imagine that someone converted a garage into a music venue. That’s about it; it’s definitely BYOB. And last I heard they allowed smoking.
I shan’t be at this show as I have already committed to this weekend’s episode of Fools Play. But if you’re up in Seattle and unable to make it to Oly to see me, you should probably check out the Periwinkle Fool and the Grey Wizard.
Details:
Black Beast Revival/Sumo/Incanus/Cutlass Supreme @ The Josephine (Facebook event)
Saturday, January 25th @ 9:30 PM
The Josephine
608 NW 65th, Seattle, 98177
$??
One thing that was very nice about the night (other than the musics) was the fact that when I looked around the rather-packed room I knew probably 90% of the people there.
The Crowd
But what was especially special was the fact that we brought wee baby Avery with us for her first real outing at only one week of age. She ended up being the real star of the show! It was for many people the first time they had seen her. She was passed from friendly hand to friendly hand all night long.
Lara & Avery
Even rock stars couldn’t resist the urge of the cuteness of the wee beb:
Julia & Avery
In fact, Avery is so beloved that Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount actually wrote a song for her before she was born. It is called “Montana Capri” because before we announced the name of Avery we used Montana Capri as her codename. This was the first time the song was ever performed live, and it was performed for Avery:
How many babies have songs written for them? And how many babies have the song performed for them live on stage in their first week of life? We have a very, very lucky wee beb.
Unfortunately we had to leave while The Old Salt was setting up due to the wee beb having been out for a couple of hours. But it was a pretty amazing night.
Here’s the thing: Carrie and I are going to try our hardest to make it to at least some of this show, and we plan on bringing a not-so-little Avery with us! Wee beb’s first outing!
Plans are subject to change, of course, based on how everyone in the household is feeling at the time, but regardless of whether or not we three make it out to the show, I highly encourage all of my T-town (and beyond) friends to head to 6th & Union on Friday night!
Details:
The Old Salt, Terrapin Productions, Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount @ Metronome Coffee (Facebook Event)
3518 6th Avenue, Tacoma, WA
8:00 PM
All Ages: FREE!
